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I’ve been a reader of yours and Trent’s at the Simple Dollar for about a year now. I like following both of your posts and I’ve been inspired to start blogging as well and I started yesterday. I posted my second article today where I talk about an interesting approach to credit cards, that I’ve never seen you or Trent cover before. Could I get your opinion on it?

I am a poor 25 yr old graduate student that wants to start inventing. I am thinking about opening a VGSTX account, but have doubts since the markets seem all over the place lately.

Is this a good time to start investing or should I wait a year or two?

Thanks for your advice,

GradStudent

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Bensays:

30 July 2008 at 10:23 am

Hey Guys,
Love the web page! I’m trying to track down an article I saw and was going to “read later” and now can’t find. It was about a guy that makes money by licencing product ideas. One of his products was a spinning label for water bottles, if that helps. If anyone can tell me how to find it It would be appreciated.

Have you found Amazon’s ‘Subscribe & Save’ program yet? The basic idea is that you subscribe to regular deliveries of certain items with free shipping and no taxes.

I haven’t taken the time to analyze it yet, but I think it might be useful for brand favorites that people keep in the house. What do you think?

Out of courtesy I won’t post the link but a simple search should help people find the details.

Thank you!

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CZGordonsays:

31 July 2008 at 7:50 pm

Just wanted to say thanks for putting this together, although from what I’ve read so far, it seems it’s as much a pleasure to maintain as it is to read. I’m 36 and while my debt is just under 10K (and diminishing monthly), I am just now getting excited about taking control of my finances and learning as much as possible. Goals really do help fuel my enthusiasm. Thanks again!

Thanks for an amazing blog JD. I hope your mother is doing well and I wish you the best in the coming challenging weeks.

I read your blog regularly but have never commented. How do you recommend that college students (I am a rising junior) and new graduates handle ethical financial dilemmas in the workplace and at home? You’ve mentioned ID theft and other specific issues, but are there any other pieces of advice you have?

I recently made a correct financial decision in my internship – the situation wasn’t that grey, but there was a nuance or two. Any tips?
Thanks again,
- Genie

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Briansays:

05 August 2008 at 9:49 am

I like reading posts about your gardening project. Do you have any book recommendations related to gardening and food preservation? Maybe a post about how you preserver/can/dry your crops would be useful to your readers.

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Krissays:

05 August 2008 at 8:45 pm

JD, just wanted to say thanks for the website. It’s really helped me to stay on point the last few months and I am happy to report that today, since my Orange account (which I opened because you recommended it on the blog) reached $500, I used my $2000 emergency fund to pay off my credit card totally. Until I build up my emergency fund again, I’ve got that $500 cushion. This is the first time I’ve been debt free since about 1992, when I graduated college. I’ve dug myself out of about $60K in debt (credit cards, school loans and a car loan) the last few years and your blog was a big help in keeping my eyes on the prize at the end, when I was getting really tired of being frugal.

JD, I share many of your values and am working on a project that I think you’d enjoy: http://www.capitalistcredo.com Check out the Capitalist Bill of Rights. I’d love to add you to the Blogroll as an early signer.
-Brendan

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Jacksays:

07 August 2008 at 10:27 am

JD,

I have become a fan of your site over the past year and I think I’ve gained a lot from it… I have no debt. I have an emergency fund (3-months) in a high-interest savings account. I am considering two things: 1. Law School (next year) which will cause significant debt over the next 3 years but pay off large down the road, and 2. Living arrangements, currently I live with 3 roommates in a shared house for ~25% of my after-tax salary. The question: I am considering the purchase of a 30-40ft sailboat to live aboard. My estimated price would fall somewhere around 25-50K. I would then live aboard and be approx. 2.5 miles from my office rather than a 1.5 hour commute as I have now (btw, work pays my commuting expenses on public transportation). I have looked into slip fees, mooring fees, and anchoring… thinking that I might start at a slip and try to move to a mooring or anchor set up once I get accustomed to the lifestyle. I figure that I might enjoy owning a boat and living on it more than renting forever since I’m basically 100% priced out of any legitimate home in my zip code. What do you think? Would it be all that horrible to take on some debt to own a boat and live on the water closer to work? I’m thinking of a 1970′s sailboat so big gas expenses wouldn’t be too much of a concern. I can afford to pay approx. ~600/month into whatever living arrangement I have, be it renting or a boat loan slip/electricity or mooring fees.

Thanks for any thoughts you can provide!

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Ali Manningsays:

07 August 2008 at 10:55 am

Hi JD,

just wanted to let you know that you sounded great on On Point last week. I listened to the show twice, mostly because I couldn’t believe what the final guest was saying – can’t imagine who was paying that guy to defend credit card companies!

Talking of credit cards – I was just paying the July statment on my Bank of America card and noticed a finance charge even though I had paid the full balance last month (as I do every month). I was charged 12.99% on all purchases that month. And this occured the month before. I called immediately. Their new policy is that if you have a balance left over from month 1(in my case $200 because i was waiting for a store credit), in month 2 you will pay interest on the $200 plus all purchases and then in month 3 you will pay interest on all purchases even if you have paid off the total at the end of month 2. May be I’m naive thinking that if I pay in full each month, I won’t be charged! The interesting thing is that the customer service rep credited the charges within a nano second – I didn’t even have to ask – hmmmm. I think I’ll cut my card up later.

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Priscillasays:

11 August 2008 at 11:45 am

Hi,

I just started reading your blog this month and it’s great. I’m 26 y/o and went back to school for nursing. I graduated and now have about $35,000 in student loans with $10,000 of it in private loans. That’s the only debt I have. I’ve been researching consolidation but my lenders and most others have stopped that option. I would love ideas on the best way to pay back student loans and also any recommended sites/blogs about people who have paid back their loans. Thanks!

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David C.says:

13 August 2008 at 5:52 am

J.D.,

Just read the great write up on Yahoo Finance on your debt free journey and the decision to eschew credit cards. Hopefully this will bring more people to your website and get them started on the path to financial freedom. It was a similar mention last year that led me to Get Rich Slowly. Your blog has inspired me to get my financial house in order. I have a plan now and your blog is sort of a “daily affirmation” to keep me focused on the task at hand. Thanks for all that you do on here. And I wish your mother a speedy recovery.

I have been a faithful reader for a year now. I just paid off my first CC this week and will be out of debt by the end of October with quite a bit of savings…without getting into too much detail. If I ever feel like it, I will write it all out and be a success story on your site! That is my dream!

Thank you! The service you provide is invaluable.

Faith
PS I have also encouraged a friend to do the same. He sold his Porsche, asked for a raise, took on some freelance work, and hopes to be out of debt and moving to Spain by next year!

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Justinsays:

19 August 2008 at 7:16 am

I want to invest my 401k in local (pacific northwest) companies with less than 10 employees in order to build my local economy and not a large companies big pockets. Do you have any suggestions?

J.D., just wanted to say that your blog is still my most favorite blog. I just read a bunch of garbage online, even from well-known pf bloggers, and sometimes they just get sooo annoying! Thanks for not being annoying. You’re not defensive, you tell stories very well, you don’t just give feel-good advice that’s copied and pasted everywhere, or 10 tips to do this and that, your stuff is well-researched so that you don’t contradict yourself, etc. Very, very good site, and please keep it up!

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jstrawbosssays:

22 August 2008 at 6:26 am

Question: Does paying off my full credit card balance monthly mean paying the amount shown on my statement or paying what is actually owed up until the payment due date? (that amt would include charges made after receiving the statement)
Thanks for a great site!

I am sure you get messages all the time but here is a great article titled “Is Debt Your Destiny?”

Well written article and the points really hit home from me. Although for the last few years (ok many years) I have juggled my debt, paid off, etc. my total debt has remained about the same. Only this year has my total started to really decline as I have changed my behavior.

Hey,
New trick they are pulling at my Fred Meyers (the one on Interstate) they are now hiding the small baskets and only have carts at the entrance.
I am assuming they have noticed that people with carts tend to have more stuff in them then people with baskets… I think someone needs to explain correlation and causation to them.
Anyways in case it does have some sort of correlation, I just thought it might be a good tip.

Could you change the links from dark yellow color to blue color? Your site is probably the only one that has links in dark yellow instead of blue. I might have missed some of the links because dark yellow has such a poor contrast to the rest of the black written texts. Thanks.

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Joycesays:

02 September 2008 at 11:15 am

J.D., I am so impressed with the quality of your writing and research. Your personable and highly practical blog has become an essential part of my weekday reading.I saw this article & accompanying video on MarketWatch and thought they’d offer real encouragement to readers who face the challenge of trying to save on an income that’s been heavily impacted by debt or is just plain low to begin with. It’s not perfect–many people already refrain from buying coffee, lunches, new clothes, etc and still struggle–yet the main idea is still sound. http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=206b7d259e734903bac63da99dba389f&siteid=nwhpf&sguid=Pw7wmcYJ0kSHewI9HJ6V5Q

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Waltersays:

05 September 2008 at 12:10 pm

I just wanted to start off saying that I’m blown away by the quality and honesty of this site and all of your advice that I have read so far. Currently, I’m 19 and am planning on starting a Roth IRA — as they say, “Investing Sooner is Investing Smarter.” — using what little savings I can accumulate each month (around $400-500). I read over your earlier post on How to Start a Roth IRA, and decided to start with Vanguard. I filled out the forms and was looking over the STAR funds history, and after the start of ’07, its been declining.
Since I’m a young kid, I haven’t been up to speed on anything financial until about a week ago, but is there some trend going on right now with mutual funds? And if so, is it still worth investing at my young age; even at a loss?
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

I just wanted to take the time to thank you for all your helpful advice.

I started reading your blog around the beginning of this year, hoping to find the answers to my sizable debt for someone my age (21). And slowly buy surely, I’m at the threshold of beings almost debt free.

Thanks to your advice, “snowballing”, and the unfortunate death of my father (a windfall) have helped me get rid of almost all of my high interest debt along with a stack of pesky medical bills. All this by doing the right things with my money.

Hopefully with this “do-over” I’ll make the right decisions this time and not get myself back into debt.

Again I just wanted to tell you thanks!

~Liz

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Hironsays:

06 September 2008 at 8:03 am

You information is very helpful!!

I have a question…I am 19 years old, but I can spare some where around $2000 per year, but I dont konw where to even start? What kind of funds should I put my money into so I get the best rates, because I want to earn a million by retirement…(of course)…lol

Thanks so much for you help!

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Natesays:

06 September 2008 at 11:18 am

Long time reader, first time caller!

I have two unrelated questions that I would love to see posts/articles about (I also need to search your site more and see if you already covered them, hehe).

1- My fiancee and I are looking to open new joint checking and savings accounts either right before or after we are married (2 months from now). What are the things to look for when choosing a new bank, and are there good up-to-date sites online that can help? I am a sucker for hi-tech ATM machines, awesome online account access (and ability to work with Quicken and TurboTax), and of course decent interest rates. The wife is concerned with ATM location, finance and ATM fees, etc. It would be great to find a way to look at all of these things without going to a branch of each and hearing their sales pitch =)

2- I have two 401k plans; one from my current company that I put 10% into every paycheck, and one from a previous job that I did not roll over (I figured it wouldn’t hurt to keep my eggs in two separate baskets). However, the last time I looked at my quarterly reports (and this goes for my other standard investment account as well), I noticed I am Losing money. I know that the US economy has been pretty bad lately, but is there anything that can be done or planned for?

I hate thinking that I would have been better off putting that money under my mattress that putting it specifically into a retirement fund. Same with my money market accounts, etc. Even a normal bank account has a positive (but tiny) interest rate.

I have been reading your site (along with some other financial blogs) for the past few months and they have really helped me change my spending and saving habits.

I would like to start listing my spending totals into a spreadsheet budget along with setting goals for ‘bigger things’ (trips, winter tires etc)… do you have a budget template that works for you or could you please recommend a few tips on getting started?

So my sister thought you might be able to give a bit of insight into my situation. I haven’t done this before so forgive me if i rambleor give you more info then you want.

About 7 months ago I purchased a 2004 Ford Expedition. Yeah…i know I am getting there! So I had hopes that a. we would utilize the vehicle for outdoor activities and piling the family in it, and b. i had just wrecked my explorer and needed something new. So here i am 7 months later with a gas hog of a vehicle tha i only take one child place in. I could do this on a scooter! When i bought the car 7 months ago it blue booked for almost $16,000. I thought ohh, no problem, i can just go trade it in. So in talking with several diffent car lots, i have discovered the car only now books at $8000 (if in excellent condition) and that if i wanted to get a different car with half the payments and/or better mpg, then i would be upside down $10,000!!! YIKES! I was told that no dealerships will give me what i owe, which is about $18,000 and that they don’t want those cars, becuase they can’t sell them.

My friend suggested craigs list but people in the interent world would also see that it blue books at $8000 so i wouldn’t be able to get anything else out of it anyways.

I am in a financial hard place (like the rest of the world) and need to cut my payments and/or my gas down to help with my budget. Just thought you might have some suggestions as to how to handle this situation. And maybe there are other folks out there who would benefit as well.

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Chris H.says:

15 September 2008 at 3:23 pm

JD,

You’ve had some great posts recently about some of the “stuff” we keep, but I was wondering if you had anything in the works for another one of your “pyscology of money”. I only ask because I had a deer slam into my truck today going to work. Checked with my insurance and it will all be covered (only actually gonna cost me about $300 to cover the deductable-which is awesome if you saw the front-end of my truck). The problem is that I had a really tight savings goal for this year and this is throwing a bit of a wrench in the works. The $300 is not going to hurt much from the monetary stand point (more then enough in the emergency fund), but just the fact that I’ve been scrapping for a while and got a setback from some animal bounding into my car from nowhere is unnerving me a bit. Though you could get a post out on something similar in the next couple weeks.

Thanks.

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codingslavesays:

15 September 2008 at 8:02 pm

JD,
I really love your site and it has inspired me to do think about a lot of things I never thought about before.
I’m in my late 20′s and just started funding my long-term savings last year. I’m not 100% sure if I’ll stay in the country forever so I’m not funding my 401k significantly.
I sort of understand the importance Asset Allocation and have settled on a 80% Stock, 20% Bond index fund
allocation that suited me just fine till yesterday. I pretty much put a little money every month and try to maintain this ratio by putting money where its lower. However given the current market is that wise? I
understand that market timing doesn’t work and the best idea is to follow my asset allocation. However it just pains me to pump in money into stocks only to watch it disappear a couple of days later. Today was a bad day and so I’m at my wits end. I mean is following an Asset Allocation blindly any better than common sense?
Wouldn’t a better strategy currently be to put all new money into bonds and then rebalance at the end of the year?
I guess my question is “Are there situations where deviating from my Asset Allocation is okay?” Putting
money into stocks now seems foolish. Or is this a time for a reality check and revise my allocation to something more conservative that I can stomach?

I have a quick question relating to the Credit Card usage. I have heard that it is not good to use a large % of the available credit in your credit card because it will hurt your credit score. Is that true?

What if I have been able to pay off the large sum every month? Would that still affect my credit?

I have been using my Chase Freedom card for all type of purchase and payment as I get 3% back from all top purchases. Thus, I usually use a large % of my available credit.

How are you doing on the 100 things in a 1001 days you listed in March of last yr?
I’d really enjoy hearing/reading a follow up to that article as I made a similar but much smaller list for myself and pasted the article on to friends.

Just thought I’d share a buying tip I ran into today. The QFC I shop at sells cooking spices in bins and in the small containers. They post the prices in the bins by the lb and at first it seemed like they were pretty expensive… Slow as it was, the thought dawned on me finally that a lb of spice is ALOT of spice. I bought about 1.5 oz(a standard container’s worth) of dill and another 1.5 oz of onion powder. It cost under three dollars combined. A single 1.5 oz container of the dill would have cost about 8 bucks! I looked online and similar containers are still about 4 bucks. So, save your spice containers and refill them if there is a place to buy loose spice near you. Considering my cabinet houses around 50 or more containers and I go through them about once a year, some more than others, I can save hundreds of dollars every year just on spices. It blew my mind a little how much I was really spending on these because I don’t include spices in my normal budget. I just think about general grocery expenditures.

I am part of the PR team that represents MoneyAisle.com, and since working with them, I have been reading your blog regularly. It’s both entertaining and informative, so keep up the good work!

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Amber Smithsays:

29 September 2008 at 12:40 pm

College, Career, or Love?

I need some advice…perhaps you can help. Thanks in advance for reading this.

I’m 21 years old and I graduated first in my class when I was in high school back in my hometown in Pennsylvania. After high school I moved to NYC and I completed a year of college at Fordham University and another semester at Queens College, but had to stop school because I could no longer afford it. The first year that I attended Fordham, my father co-signed a $10,000 loan. The semester I completed at Queens College I paid for in cash ($2,500). I was offered a job at a media company through Newsweek Magazine after a brief internship, and because the pay was way more than I’d ever made waitressing, I had to take it.

I continue to live in NYC with my boyfriend of 4 years, and I am now an advertising sales rep for Newsweek, making a base pay of $33,000 a year plus commision (ends up being around 45-50K a year). I work on Wall Street and Broadway in Downtown Manhattan and I am gaining useful sales experience. I have full benefits and lots of vacation time. I’ve been here 6 months and although I enjoy it, I’ve always regretted not finishing school.

I recently went to visit my wealthy Grandparents in Florida this past week, and the two of them offered to pay for school and books, and provide me room and board if I agreed to move to Florida and complete my education. They said that if I provided a car to get to and from school, and got a part-time job to cover gas, clothes, and any recreational expenses, they would cover the rest.

I can’t tell you how generous and truly terrific this offer is, but I can’t convince myself to go because naturally I don’t want to be so far from my friends and family. Moving to NYC was a huge step for me, and being an hour and half from them still proves to be a challenge when I’m not able to always attend dance recitals and Trick-or-Treating. I also have a pretty decent job that I enjoy, and I’m acquiring great sales experience. Also, I’ve been with my boyfriend for nearly four years. He’s a terrific guy, we live together, and although I’m young (he’s 26) I am so in love and the thought of leaving him for nearly 4 years breaks my heart.

What am I to do?

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Rachelsays:

30 September 2008 at 6:49 am

Hey JD!

I live out in Florida and they have a bunch of new Aldi stores about to open around us. They sound like a great idea, but I’m worried that the store might be as dirty and low quality as the other discount stores around here.

In my country (Australia), there are special rules surrounding the superannuation accounts that I believe are roughly equivalent to the 401K. Basically, employers put in a mandated amount (9%) as part of your salary package. You can put in additional amounts from pre-tax pay, that are taxed concessionally at 15% going in, and from post-tax pay which are tax-free. Employer and concessionally-taxed contributions are preserved until age 55 for income streams or 65 for lump sums. You can draw early for permanent disability, and you may be allowed to draw six month’s mortgage repayments if you’re in danger of foreclosure on your home.

The problem with all this is that it really takes away your ability to self-determine retirement. You could max out your contributions by thirty and have enough to fund the rest of your life by forty, but you can’t touch it.

This means people wishing to retire early (like me!) have to find a way of doing it from after-tax pay. We have a fairly socialised environment (subsidised health care for all citizens, generous welfare etc) and therefore pay high taxes. I don’t have a problem with this – we do get value for our money – but at this point in my life, the tax levels pose a logistic barrier to funding my retirement from after-tax dollars. Of my $78K I see about $50K.

I realise this is a bit of a crash course in the Australian context and it may not be of sufficient interest to your reader base, but I would be interested to know if you have any advice about getting the maximum retirement bang for my buck in those circumstances.

Your forgot to mention that WAMU, now known as JP Morgan Chase Bank, still offers 4.0% interest through their Online Savings Account, provided they are linked to a Free Checking Account. I don’t know how long this will last, but I’m taking advantage of it until it changes.

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John IVsays:

04 October 2008 at 10:47 pm

JD – thought your readers would enjoy knowing that netflix just got the license to stream movies off the starz broadband network.

in other words: your ~$20/month now gets you unlimited access to a whole lot of new releases (and some classics) that are actually really good. i.e. Rushmore, Superbad, No Country For Old Men.

(Edit) At the risk of being a major fanboy I have to say: what a value!

I have two younger sisters, both entering college in the next year, that spend money like our parents taught us, i.e. when I have it, spend it. At 24, and 40k in debt (student loans and CCs), I finally changed my ways. I don’t want it to take so long for my sisters. What book would you recommend for them regarding personal finance? I have considered Suze Orman’s The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke.

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